How Did We Determined This

Normally OP Editor has about total of 100 browser tabs open on three different browsers, and that never take up 100% CPU. But we realized something is wrong when the MacBook Pro fans are spinning like mad even with only two dozen tabs open.

Flash Player 100% CPU + Webcam Disabled Bug

Bug: Adobe Flash Player 100% CPU Usage

Here’s a report on Adobe forums that the latest Adobe Flash Player broke the iSight camera for MacBook Air. Flash Player also caused 100% cpu usage when Flash Player is running with Chatroulette on the user’s iMac.

The 100% CPU usage bug is what OP Editor experienced.

Bug: Adobe Flash Player Disables Webcam / iSight Video

On November 6, 2010, Jeffrey Groves submitted a bug report on the 100% repeatable bug. (Update: Over a month later, in late December Adobe still hasn’t responded). How to reproduce:

1. Visit any site that uses flash and supports a web cam using Mac OS X
2. Attempt to use built-in Isight camera or any video source under Settings.
3. Video from webcam is not displayed

He found that Adobe didn’t seemed to have tested Flash Player with standard quicktime components: “So far ‘ManyCam’ and ‘Google Camera Adapter’ component files have been identifies as not being supported by the new version of flash, while they work with every other video application available on the Mac.”

The previous versions of Flash also didn’t break with those components.

How to Fix 100% CPU + No Web Cam Flash Issue?

How to fix it:

1. Uninstall Flash Player. You need to quit your browsers first, and use the Flash uninstaller from Adobe:

Chatroulette realized the problem is Flash Player, and offers another option: to install the beta (preview release) Flash Player Square:

But do you want to install an Adobe beta? Here’s what Adobe has to say about their beta Flash Player 10.2 software: “Because this is a preview version of Flash Player, we don’t expect it to be as stable as a final release version of Flash Player. Use caution when installing Flash Player “Square” on production machines.”

Ironically, beta version of Flash works better than the official “stable” version released by Adobe.

Copy and paste the following command into the Terminal app window: ./Library/Application Support/Google/GoogleVoiceAndVideoUninstaller.app

Press Enter on your keyboard

To uninstall Google Voice plugin Windows:

Click Start > Settings > Control Panel

Double-click Add or Remove Programs

Scroll down to find Google Talk plugin

Click Remove, then Yes, then Finish

Set iSight camera as webcam when Flash asks.

Google Chrome with Flash vs. Safari with Flash Blocker

Google Chrome, which loads Flash on multiple pages even though Flash blocker is installed, still saps 100% CPU core with only 18 tabs open. Same number of tabs in Safari uses 5% CPU, with Flash blocker. Shown here:

In comparison, Safari with 75 tabs open jumps around from 6% to 20% CPU usage. Not even close to 100% CPU usage.

For Google Chrome users, if you are still seeing Flash predictably running you CPU at 100% even with only a few tabs open, then you might want to try a different browser with Flash Blocker installed.

Conclusion

As Steve Jobs said to Adobe about Apple’s war on Flash: “We’ve told Adobe, if you ever had this thing running fast, come back and show us. And they never did.” Three years after the introduction of the flash-less iPhone, Adobe still hasn’t demoed a version of Flash that qualifies.

Update, February: Adobe Flash Player 10.2.152.26 released on February 8, 2011 is said to be better (on some new computers that support GPU decoding it works much better). So, it took Adobe 4 years after Apple rejected Flash to come up with a version that works on computers. How long would it take for them to make a decent version for mobile devices? (Answer, longer than how companies are adding HTML5 videos).

1. Deleted Chrome. (The reason being is that Chrome has its own version of Flash and this was in competition with Adobe Flash – thus causing the spinning and large CPU usage.)
2. Deleted Adobe Flash
3. Installed Firefox
4. Installed latest version of Adobe Flash.

Monthly CPU usage has gone from 40+ down to below 20 and I am playing more games than before.